Ken Gross
Executive Chairman
Connect America
Ken founded Tri-State Alarm Company in 1977. Tri-Sate Alarm was a residential and commercial security alarm company servicing Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware.
In 1980, Tri-State Alarm obtained a license from Sears, Roebuck and Co. to sell furnish and install (SFI contractor) burglar alarm systems to Sears customers. Between 1980 and 1989 we expanded our license with Sears
to be the exclusive provider of home alarm systems in 190 Sears stores from New York to Florida.
In 1985, Tri-State Alarm obtained a UL Central Station certification and built our own UL monitoring station in a new 10,000 sq ft corporate headquarters in Brookhaven PA
In September 1989, at the age of 36, Ken sold Tri-State Alarm to Security Link out of Orange, CT for $25M. At the time of the sale Tri-State Alarm had 25,000 customers, $550,000 of RMR and annual sales of $15M.
Tri-State Alarm Company 2
In September 1999, 10 years later to the day (and end of non-compete period), started Tri-State Alarm Company #2. Built a direct to consumer marketing model by selling home security on the internet and opening 10 branch offices throughout the Philadelphia regional market. Obtained rights to use the “First Alert” name and served on the First Alert President’s council.
In 2001, Tri-State Alarm was named “First Alert Dealer of the Year” and Ken personally received the “First Alert Medal of Honor”. In May 2004, Tri-State Alarm 2 was acquired by Security Networks out of West Palm Beach, FL for
$16.SM. Tri-State Alarm 2 had $500k of RMR at the time and was ‘#66 on the SOM 100.
Connect America
Founded Connect America in 2004 out of Broomall, PA. Under the names MedicalAlarm.com and MedicalAlert.com, Ken built Connect America into the one of the largest direct-to-consumers PERS (personal emergency response system) business in the country.
In 2005, Good Housekeeping recommended Connect America as their medical alarm system of choice based a package of low monthly price of only $29.95, no upfront fee, no long term contacts and 2 way voice that covered the entire home.
In 2007, CVS Pharmacy selected Connect America as their exclusive provider of medical alert systems in their 6000 stores nationwide.
In 2007, Ken founded the Medical Alert Monitoring Association (MAMA) and served as its President for 10 years. This is the first trade association of its kind in the PERS industry and has been vital to the industry’s growth and success.
In December, 2010 Rockbridge Private Equity acquired a majority stake in Connect America. At the time of the acquisition, Connect America had 73,000 customers generating $1.9M of RMR.
In 2021, Connect America purchased Lifeline.com, the largest PERS provider in the country.
Today, Ken serves as Executive Chairman of Connect America and the company has over 800,000 customers with $25M of RMR and revenue in excess of $300M and is the largest PERS company in the country!